Switchband

When Minnesota State University (Mankato) students voted for the band they wanted to play their annual spring concert, first choices included My Chemical Romance, Jack Johnson, Dashboard Confessional, or Brooks & Dunn. Because the fees demanded by those performers were too high, organizers booked Switchfoot. (The band's most recent album debuted at number three before plummeting out of sight within a few weeks.)

This year's spring concert took place off-campus, at the Midwest Wireless Civic Center. Switchfoot drew around 2500 people to the 8000-seat venue. MSU's Impact Team (which sponsors the annual concerts) reportedly paid the band $35,000 to $40,000. Program coordinator Fred Snyder told a campus newspaper that other bands contacted wanted to charge "four or five times as much."